


Standard Protocol

by ChrisReynolds



Category: Mutant Chronicles (Roleplaying Game), Warzone - Fandom
Genre: Cyborgs, Demons, Dieselpunk, Gen, Original Character(s), Robots, Science Fiction, War, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 17:14:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8335837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisReynolds/pseuds/ChrisReynolds
Summary: This is one of a series of stories developed for Cartel Tactical Centre, a fan-produced e-zine for Mutant Chronicles/Warzone.If you like my work, I write on far more than just this topic. Please consider joining my mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/cjE8RfAnd/or my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisreynoldsauthorCartel Tactical Centre can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/CTCMagazine/





	

“I think I have found the source of the communications problem.”

Raymond Chung reached up and clamped his metal hand around the last outcropping of rock. The servomotors whined slightly as he hauled himself up the last stretch and onto the flat ground. He stood and looked in the direction his second in command indicated. The wind buffeted his semi-armoured body and he switched off his sensation of temperature.

In the distance, the outpost was fully ablaze. It lit up the night sky brilliantly, his night vision systems cutting out under such intense input.

His Heads-Up Display (or HUD for short) processed video feeds from his squad and the supporting units, allowing him to see the remains of the base in detail. The device wrapped around his entire face like the visor of a motorcyclist’s helmet, hiding his features from the others and bathing his eyes in green light. He focussed on a sparkle of lights in one corner of the base, indicating a firefight. He opened his communications system again.

“Outpost base, this is patrol four. Respond.” Again, only static.

He saw a handful of Chasseurs take cover amongst debris and ruined vehicles. Surrounding them, a horde of dark figures steadily closed, firing intermittently. Chung saw the Chasseurs pour streams of fire into them, but the number of enemy made their efforts seem futile. He saw a monstrous figure, easily four metres tall, raise a two-handed weapon and charge into the Chasseurs. The fire slackened as the cyborgs attempted to reconfigure their formation in response.

“Well, it looks as though the outpost has fallen.”

Chung looked at George Herald, his second in command. George looked back at him, his one human eye frozen in a permanent squint by a large welt of scar tissue. Chung nodded.

“J421, where is the next nearest Cybertronic facility?”

The tall robot turned smoothly to face them. The Attila Mk.III was three metres tall and slender, and moved with more fluidity than even the half-human Chasseurs. One sleek arm pointed to the left, further west than the burning outpost. It spoke with a smooth feminine voice.

“The nearest facility is a listening post four hundred kilometres in that direction. It is unlikely they are aware of this outpost’s fate at this stage.”

Chung and Herald turned back to the distant funeral pyre.

“Standard Protocol is to defend what we can, then find any survivors and evacuate to the nearest facility.” It wasn’t a question- nobody had any doubts about the Standard Protocol.

“Assessment: that is the Dark Legion attacking this facility. We won’t make it in time to make any difference to the defence and there is a very low likelihood of any survivors. Four hundred kilometres to the next base is an untenable prospect due to the control that Capitol has over that region of Mars.”

“I concur with the assessment.”

Chung blinked.

“Standard Protocol appears to be a poor choice for this situation.” Herald nodded in response.

“We may have enough resources to communicate to higher command, or even to access transport, if we go down there,” he indicated the burning buildings, “but only if we move now and use the cover of battle to obscure our approach.”

He turned to the remainder of the squad.

“I need all of you to reduce your dose of XLR8. This situation calls for original thinking. Steel yourselves against your emotions as your systems flush the drug.”

There was a chorus of affirmatives. The Chasseurs accessed their operating systems and adjusted their dosage.

“Let’s move.”

 

*             *             *             *             *

 

The patrol loped across the hard rocky plain at speed. This far from the battle, they were able to hear the distant reports of scattered gunfire but not so close that their thundering metal footsteps could be heard. With the dark of night to cloak their visual signature, they needed speed more than stealth.

«Commander, first structural assessments are coming in.» The metallic voice of one of his Enhanced Machinators grated in Chung’s ear. The robots only had very basic speech modulation software installed, to free up storage space and processor speed for their infiltration and combat role.

He accepted the data burst transmission and flicked through the images as he ran. The outpost main building was shattered, with the outer layers of concrete and steel torn open as if by some huge beast. _Given the opponent in this case_ , thought Chung, _that may be a distinct possibility_.

The outer buildings were in various states of destruction. It seemed that the Dark Legion had enough information to pinpoint the most important structures, attacking defensive bunkers, communications and power generation. Other structures were intact, like repair hangars and the sewage treatment facility.

«Commander.»

Chung cleared his feed and linked to J421’s communication. He waited for more to be sent but none was forthcoming.

Maintaining his pace, Chung looked at the lanky robot as it appeared to tiptoe alongside them at a comfortable 23 Kilometres an hour. Its head was fixed forward, eyes blank. The machine’s expression was never going to give much away, but it was clearly still functional.

“J421, report.”

«Processing.» There was an awkwardly long pause.

“J421, report now!”

The robot slowed to a halt and froze in place. Chung also ceased running, the rest of the team steadily coming to a halt further down the road as they realised their commander was no longer with them. Chung walked up to the motionless AI and looked over it for a moment.

“J421, report status.”

“Managing Process load. Please wait.”

“J421, command override. Basic diagnostics, report!”

The Cuirassier Attila made a faint whirring noise for a moment before turning to face him. The feminine voice was replaced by a harsh mechanical tone.

“UNIT ONLINE. ALL SYSTEMS READY.”

“J421, report on system log. What were you processing?”

There was another pause before the AI responded. This time the voice returned to the melodic woman’s tone it had used before.

“Commander, the outpost. I could see… WAIT, PROCESSING… I could see her face.”

“Her face?”

“The Root System, Commander. She is faltering under the attack. I have seen her.”

“Summarise, J421.”

“Key facts: 3. Fact 1: this is not the standard Building Management System AI. This appears far more advanced in capability and sophistication. Fact 2: She has an incredibly high clearance level. It appears from her file structures that she has access to every piece of information that Cybertronic has. Fact 3: this is not a military outpost, this is a research laboratory.”

Chung frowned behind his HUD. “Research? What kind?”

Another pause. “Research into the nature of the Dark Symmetry.  She is specially shielded to protect her against their influence, but that is the reason for the remote placement of this outpost- in case she went rogue and needed to be eliminated. There is a satellite in orbit that is designed to destroy this facility if such a thing eventuated. Evidently that has not been activated after the enemy removed all communications capability.”

Chung looked over J421 for a moment before turning his attention to the burning buildings. He looked back at the other Chasseurs.

“One moment, everybody. I need to analyse this.”

He rapidly reviewed the information that he had on the situation. There was no way that they could let even a fragment of the Root System fall into enemy hands with that sort of information.

 “We have a new protocol to follow. We will enter the fight around the Outpost. I need options for entry and a means to fight massed enemy infantry as well as potential large targets.” He transmitted a picture of the outpost’s schematics to his team. There was a momentary silence.

“Sir,” It was Karen Strelzki, “what about here?”

Chung received her marked image and smiled. “Perfect.”

He quickly programmed a set of navigational orders into their two Enhanced Machinators. The bulky machines were as tall as J421, but their sheer size was impressive. Thick, slab-sided armour plate covered their mechanical bodies, and they walked forward with measured, mechanical efficiency. They were not as agile as the Cuirassier Mk.III, but they were still fast. Their camouflage activated as they strode off into the night.

Chung sent the marked map to his Chasseurs and told them to follow the Machinators to the outpost. Before he followed them, he turned to J421 and lowered his voice.

“Keep in contact with the Root System. Get her to concentrate any resistance on the north-western side of the building.”

“Confirmed.”

Chung started moving after the rest of his team, his legs pumping as he accelerated up to full speed. The hydraulic pistons driving him forward whispered along with barely a hiss.

«The treatment facility, Commander?.» There was a waver in Herald’s voice. His XLR8 dose must have sufficiently cleared from his system.

“That’s right. It’s still intact.”

«We won’t be as effective if we just try to get inside the buildings. The enemy has the advantage in close quarters. Infiltration via the treatment plant will slow us down.»

“Don’t assume that we’re using the plant to infiltrate.”

Chung leaped over the outer layers of low wire, his feet crunching on prepared gravel. The Chasseurs descended into a steep ditch off to their right, the grey Martian soil squelching into mud at the bottom.

«Then what is the purpose?» There was a short squeal of metal from up ahead as the Machinators tore the steel bars from the sewage outlet channel. The team proceeded through the outlet pipe, a cloak of darkness falling over them. Chung activated his light amplification mode and carried on up the pipe.

“Winning resources.”

The pipe opened out into a low settling pond with a thick wall around it. Chung took the offered hand of the Chasseur in front of him, scrabbling out of the pond. He found himself on a concrete floor in the middle of a large building.

The space was bounded by four walls, tapering like a pyramid but with the roof open to the sky. Inside, there were two massive tanks that reached almost out of the building, covered in ladders and walkways. A sprawl of pipes connected the two tanks with the settling pond, a massive pumping station and a thick pipe that ran from the rest of the compound.  Chung called up the building’s schematics in his HUD and began scanning them. His HUD overlaid his vision with technical details, and after a moment he nodded.

“U354, U357, check the security of the doors into this location. Harris, return to the mouth of the outlet pipe and deploy our Mirage Generator. Set it to natural camouflage, make the enemy think the pipe’s collapsed.”

The Machinators left on their assigned task, and Harris pulled the long, tube-shaped generator from his back. Chung looked up, the HUD picking out the walkways around the edges of the open roof.

“Jones, Stennis, get up there and give me visual feed on enemy activities. I need you get me clean data on their movements,” he looked down again, “the rest of you, I need creative solutions. We need improvised mass-scale weapons. You have three minutes.”

The Chasseurs huddled and Chung turned to the Attila, stepping away far enough that the Chasseurs wouldn’t hear him.

“How is the Root System faring?”

“Commander, she is still faltering. I would estimate that her security functions will begin to fail within the next five minutes. Without the failsafe satellite, even if she deactivates herself her memory storage will be vulnerable to physical attack.”

“What likelihood is there that the Dark Legion can break our encryption via hardline?”

There was a pause. “Insufficient data.”

Chung nodded.

«Visual feed online.» Chung accepted Stennis’ data feed. The battle outside was still raging. Chung could make out the wrecks of AI robots in several locations. Stennis focussed on one, and the wreckage of an Exterminateur became distinct. A curious, black flame licked over the melted carapace of the massive walker.

The harsh clatter of automatic fire echoed around the building. The Chasseurs scattered, finding cover and scanning for threats.

«COMMANDER, THE ENEMY WERE ATTEMPTING TO INFILTRATE THROUGH THE NORTHERN SECURITY GATE.» Chung switched off the feed from Stennis, but noticed that some of the indistinct figures were turning towards them.

“Is the gate secure now?”

«AFFIRMATIVE. THE DOOR HAS BEEN SEALED AND THE OPENING CONTROLS DISABLED.»

“Return to this position. Close all access doors you find, but don’t disable them just yet.”

«The enemy are attempting to force the door.» Jones’ voice filtered into his earphones along with sporadic weapons fire.

“Roger, maintain observation,” he turned to the remainder of his team, “we are out of time. Do we have anything that can be used as a weapon of any significance?”

Herald pointed to the pumping system. “There is a steam generator there. We can jury-rig a series of pipes to make a pressure chamber. We believe that we can launch standard barrels onto the battlefield. Filled with hydrocarbons and with a timed detonator onboard, we could generate small-scale fuel-air explosives.” Chung blinked. An explosion sounded outside, muffled by the walls but large enough to cause a faint tremor in the floor.

“I approve your plan. See to it.” The Chasseurs raced away, servo-assisted legs carrying them rapidly to perform their part in the task.  Chung felt a hard pit in his stomach and swallowed. His throat was dry. He held his left hand out and saw the robotic limb tremor as the servomotors attempted to process the signals from his brain.

“Commander, perhaps your XLR8 dose is too low?” It was J421, the machine looking directly at him. Chung narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth for a moment before he realised what he was doing.

“No. We have a temporary solution, not a full one. We can fight but the Root System is still vulnerable. I need my creativity.”

“Commander, you need to regulate your adrenaline response.” _Don’t tell me how to monitor my endocrine system, you damn_ … Chung breathed deeply.

“J421, I need a complete inventory of volatile stores in this building. Only things that we can access from where we are, I need…” there was a pause. Chung frowned, his thought process evaporating.

“Commander?”

“I need… anything that can be repurposed as ammunition for the pressure cannon.”

“Affirmative, commander. Processing.”

Another explosion sounded, this time louder. There was a crackle in Chung’s earpiece.

«Commander, they are inside the building.»

“Thankyou, Jones. Continue to monitor.”

J421 moved suddenly, catching his attention. He looked up at the tall robot. “You have something?”

“We have hydrocarbon fuels and cleaning solutions here, enough for generating fire but no more. We have a range of spare parts that can be used to make shrapnel bombs, assuming a useful explosive can be found to detonate them. There is a construction store adjoining the building with numerous mechanical devices and some high-pressure gasses. There are also some low explosives there. We can-”

“Where is this store?”

J421 sent him a schematic. The construction storage building was only accessible from outside. A loud clang issued from the northern door, the unmistakable sound of something trying to force its way inside.

“We have a more immediate threat, J421. Gather the Machinators, we will set up a defensive position here. Herald?”

«Commander?» Chung could see that several pipes were already disassembled, the Chasseurs using a small crane to place them together. Brilliant, flickering points of light showed welders in action.

“You have no more than five minutes to complete your task.” He didn’t wait for a response.

J421 and the Machinators hauled small machinery and other items around the door, creating defensive barricades to fight from.

“Do we have any sensor systems to assess the enemy threat?”

“No, commander, we do not. There is some form of interference preventing us from using hallway cameras. However, from audio mapping I can determine that there are at least four distinctive forms of creatures. I can discern both Necromutants and Undead Legionnaires from memory files, but the others are too distorted to gain a clean identification.”

“Then we may need to pre-empt the enemy. Take positions, prepare for contact.”

The Machinators crouched behind machinery either side of the door. J421 and Chung took positions further back, looking directly at the door.

“Maximum charge. I want your weapon firing in HV mode.”

“Confirmed, Commander.” The Attila hefted the TSW4000 Rapid Blaster into a firing position. The weapon was long enough to stretch from the floor to Chung’s shoulders, but it looked like a plastic toy in the robot’s arms.

“All units, be aware that we will initiate combat operations. Jones, prepare to execute this plan on my order,” he sent a short message, “now, open the doors.”

One of the Machinators stepped forward and initiated the door controls. A groan of metal issued as the doors slid back. There was a momentary pause as a humanoid creature looked up in surprise.

It was a leathery brown colour, with jet black hair falling in wisps around its face. There was a chunky assault rifle clutched under one arm and a thick chain wrapped around its other fist. Chung’s HUD lit up, logging features and identifying it as a Necromutant- the result of a human being entering the distortion chambers while still alive.

“Open fire.” J421’s weapon flashed, leaving after-images on his HUD and making what little hair he had on his body stand up. The Necromutant was punched off its feet, falling into the corridor behind. Several new forms appeared in the gloom, quickly identifying as the Undead Legionnaires, the reanimated corpses of fallen warriors. J421’s Rapid Blaster continued to fire, bolts of white-hot metal spearing down the corridor. A rumble like thunder followed them, the rounds punching through several bodies at once.

The enemy scattered within the corridor, advancing on the Cybertronic position. They were smart enough to clumsily avoid the incoming fire, but not so much that they realised their own mortality. Chung recognised something of that feeling, and on impulse reached for his gauntlet to administer another dose of XLR8. He paused and grabbed his weapon again, unsure.

Several enemy creatures emerged from the corridor, scattering from the door and trying to get away from the murderous fire of the Attila’s weapon. The Machinators picked them up, firing short bursts from their massive assault rifles. The fire was less precise, but there was enough volume to put their targets down. Chung raised his own weapon, spinning the feed chamber up to speed before letting loose a burst of fire. A Legionnaire went down, vomiting a sticky black fluid as it fell. He sighted on another creature and fired again, the burst going wide before a Machinator finished it off.

There was a scream from the corridor, and a large figure seemed to fill Chung’s vision. Its eyes glowed a fiery yellow, and as it came into the light he could see its rust-coloured hide. It hefted a weapon that dwarfed anything his team had and fired bolts of charged black fire at them. J421 dropped suddenly, making an almighty clang as it hit the ground.

“Razide! Engage! Engage!” Chung’s yell came involuntarily, and he swiftly followed his own advice by spraying the monster with a long burst. The Machinators recognised the threat from the beast’s weapon and advanced on it, firing as they ran.

In response, the creature bellowed and pointed the black gun at the Machinator on the right. The robot responded with a soaring leap that took it out of the line of fire. In the two seconds it took to descend, Chung could see its free hand crackle with arcing electricity. It reached out to grab at the Razide, but the monster swatted the robot with its weapon. The Machinator dropped its rifle and grabbed at the black gun, securing a grip on it and electrifying the weapon.

The Razide screamed and hurled the weapon and Machinator into the wall. The Robot clattered into the wall and then into the ground, its limbs spasming as it attempted to regain control. The Razide thumped its fists into the ground and turned around. Chung sighted on it and fired again, attempting to hit the baleful glowing eyes. The monster sighted on him and leaped into action, charging towards Chung’s barricade. The Chasseur commander’s hands shook. He kept firing.

The Razide stood straight up, skidding to a halt. It fell backwards, hitting the ground and flailing around with its massive purple fists. Behind it, the other Machinator stood, bolts of electricity coruscating from where it had a hold of the cables in the creature’s back. The Razide twitched and lashed out, breaking the robot’s grip and throwing it into the ground.

The creature found Chung again and roared at him, beating its chest with man-sized arms. Chung fired again, but the weapon clicked empty. His hands began the automatic process of stripping the magazine, detaching the feed port cover and stripping the expended links. He pulled a second belt of ammunition, as the monster advanced on him again, but already Chung knew he wouldn’t finish his reload in time. He dropped the weapon and rerouted maximum power to his arms, ready to make what little stand he could.

A loud crack sounded from over his shoulder, and the Razide stumbled and fell. Chung blinked, noting a smoking hole in his head. He looked over his shoulder to see J421, the robot’s carapace blackened and deformed, holding its weapon steady. It looked at him for a moment.

“SELF-REPAIR COMPLETE. SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL AND BATTLEWORTHY.”  The Attila stepped smoothly over the barricade that it had been sharing with Chung and stalked towards the corridor, firing as it moved. Screams and bellows issued from the door.

Chung picked up his Chain Carbine and finished reloading it, hurrying after the robot. The second Machinator joined him at the door, one leg hissing loudly and it walked with a pronounced limp.

“Jones, execute!” Chung swept the corridor as they walked, finding the occasional Legionnaire still moving amidst the carnage. A cloying stink of oil and rot permeated the space, the torn remains of bodies littering the corners. Ahead, J421 advanced steadily.

A Necromutant leaped from a dark alcove, arms wide and attempting to tackle the Cuirassier. J421 stepped smoothly out of the way before stooping to grasp the creature by the back of its head, then slamming the Necromutant’s skull into the wall. A Legionnaire appeared from under the corpses of its fellows, a rusted blade in hand. J421 smoothly kicked the creature’s rib cage in before once again smashing the Necromutant’s face into the wall a second, then a third time.

“COMMANDER,” SLAM! “DATA SHOWS THAT WE CAN REGAIN THIS CORRIDOR,” SLAM! “AND POTENTIALLY SEAL THE OUTER DOOR.”

“Disregard, J421. I have-”

A flare of bright flames appeared ahead of them, filling the outer doorway. Creatures of the Dark Legion writhed and screamed as they were consumed. The Cuirassier smashed the Necromutant’s skull once more, causing it to crack and leech hissing black fluid onto the floor. The Cuirassier stood back from where it bubbled and corroded the floor.

“Thankyou, Jones. Get down and assist Herald.” There was a quick confirmation in return.

“J421, return to the barricades. Defend the opening as best you can. I will join you in a moment.”

Chung turned to the remaining Machinator. “Send diagnostic.”

The machine sent him a system summary, and Chung looked it over for a moment. “Very well. Here is your task.” He sent a navigational map and a series of file images to the robot. It stood still for a moment.

“CONFIRMED.” The Machinator loped off back into the main building.

Chung returned to the chamber after it, looking over to where Herald’s crew toiled. A large chimney-style set of pipes stood in the corner. Herald looked up as Chung entered the room.

“We should be ready to test fire now. Do we have a target?”

“Aim for open ground. Use the corrections to determine the accuracy of the device before we try to aim it properly.”

Chung watched as two Chasseurs hefted a standard barrel into the top of the pipes. The round plastic fit snugly into the tube, and the cyborgs applied lashings of sealant gel to close the air gaps. They stood clear as Herald spun the steam valve open.

“Stennis, be prepared to track our trajectory. We need targeting data.”

A loud hiss issued from the pipes as the chamber rapidly built up pressure. For a long moment, nothing happened. The ping of heating metal became near constant.

Chung felt the shock of the pressure wave as the barrel flew out of the end of the pipe. He realised that the enormous sound of the steam weapon firing must have been filtered out automatically by his headset.

«Commander, “We have a hit- North side of the compound. No damage to combatants seen.» Stennis relayed a location map of the impact site to the rest of the squad. Herald set to work, directing his team to realign the weapon for the next shot. Another explosion sounded at the door outside.

A moment later, it was followed by a clang against the door to the left. Long, ugly scrapes were heard from the door to the right.

Jones hefted another barrel into the open mouth of the steam gun. It was quickly sealed and the valve re-opened. Chung made his way down to the floor, casting nervous glances at the three doors facing them.

Instinct caused him to spin and point his weapon as a figure emerged from the settling pond, but he quickly relaxed as he saw the form of an Enhanced Machinator appear. It was carrying two large crates that were marked in yellow and black hazard stripes.

“Good. Put them in a barrel and synch timers. After that, follow J421’s directions.”

The machine disappeared up onto the catwalks. Chung moved over to J421’s location. The Attila was standing completely still, its weapon trained on the door they had defended earlier.

“Commander, I don’t believe we have the firepower to defeat multiple waves of attackers from multiple directions. I would suggest that we abandon the steam weapon and conduct pre-emptive attacks on the remaining corridors as we did the first one.”

“How is the Root System?”

“No response from her for the last six point five minutes. I am unable to determine if her local transmission capabilities have been damaged or she is offline.”

The pressure wave caught Chung off guard. He stumbled and froze in mid-step, his legs catching him with their emergency stabilisation protocols. He waited a few moments for Stennis to call the shot and noted the location.

“Are we aligned, Herald? What is your accuracy assessment?”

Herald quickly cut off the steam valve and cocked his head. “Within approximately one hundred and eighty metres at this time.”

Chung nodded. “Load up the barrel that the Machinator is preparing next.”

Herald looked over at the machine as it placed the crates into the barrel. “Seismic charges? What effect will that have on the battle?”

“Here is your target.” There was a long silence. The other Chasseurs paused in what they were doing and looked at them.

“Are you sure, Commander Chung?”

“Standard Protocol, Chasseur.”

Herald nodded slowly. He directed the others to redirect the steam weapon once more. There was a tortured scream of metal as one of the security doors opened a sliver. A long, wickedly hooked blade poked out from within.

“Be swift, Herald. We cannot hold this position for much longer.”

Chung sprinted over to the open door and kicked a barrel of lubricant over. He lit a flare and jammed it through the gap, just below the questing blade. Greasy black smoke quickly filled the space, and he fired a quick burst of fire through the hole for good measure.

Screams came from within, followed by a cacophony of automatic weapons fire. Evidently, the Dark Legion were more keen to try their slim chance of hitting him than they were to try and avoid hitting their fellows.

The other side door began to glow, a point of cherry red that cast a hellish tint on everything around it. Chung stepped back from the gap in his door and pointed his Chain Carbine at the other, waiting for a target to present itself. He heard the hiss of the valve being opened once more. He fought back an itch to restore his dose of XLR8.

“Everyone available, get down here and prepare for contact!” The Chasseurs scrambled down from the walkways as the gun built up another chamber of steam. The door opposite Chung clicked and rolled open smoothly.

A ring of glowing purple runes dashed out of the corridor, quickly resolving into the beetle-like carapace of a Praetorian Stalker. The creature rushed towards him with a long scythe raised, a chittering scream issuing from its clenched teeth. Chung fired a burst that pattered harmlessly off its armour.

The creature opened its mouth, a tentacle-like tongue snaking out. It crashed to the ground as a burst of fire from J421 cut one of its legs off. The Enhanced Machinator appeared from the smoke and grabbed the Stalker’s head, tearing it out in one jerky motion.

Another stalker appeared at the door, firing bursts from an oversized machine gun. The impacts sounded wet, but the Machinator shrugged them off and disappeared briefly into the smoke. Bursts of fire from several Chasseurs stitched the creature’s torso, but it bellowed in defiance and answered with its own machine gun. Chung scrambled to get behind cover, finding an overturned barrel to hide behind.

He looked over the top to see the Machinator appear once more from the smoke. It planted a kick into the creature’s midsection, and as its foot connected it activated its leap program. The lower leg fired out at the Stalker like a hydraulic ram, propelling it back into the darkness of the corridor.

The pressure wave from the cannon came again. Chung linked to Stennis.

“I need the precise location of the impact. Watch that ridge next to the compound.”

Stennis hesitated before confirming. Chung ignored him and watched the open corridor once more. A countdown timer appeared in the bottom right of Chung’s HUD.

The Stalker came on once more, this time followed by two more of them. The Chasseurs fired in unison, finding a weak point and bringing one of the creatures crashing to the ground. One of the monsters ignited a blue-black flame and swept it over the nearest barricade, which dissolved into a glowing, rapidly corroding mess. J421 rose from hiding and concentrated fire on the creature. Hypervelocity rounds cut clean holes through its armoured body, causing splashes of black liquid to start pooling on the ground.

The Stalker levelled its weapon at the Attila and prepared to fire. The timer in Chung’s HUD hit zero. The ground shook, a rapidly growing rumble that pitched the Chasseurs and Machinator off balance. The Stalker flailed but remained standing, but J421 was completely unmoved. It fired another few rounds, bursting the creature’s head open and spraying black brain matter across the room.

Chung’s earpiece crackled. «Commander, the mountain… it’s-»

“It’s what, Stennis?” The roar was growing louder. There was no reply on the link. The roar grew deafening before Chung’s earpieces filtered the noise. He fell to all fours and tried to hold steady. The shaking continued, and his world shrunk to a tiny point. He could feel what was happening to his body, but he shut himself off from the room.

The shaking eased and the noise fell away. Chung opened his eyes and snatched up his weapon, scanning for targets. “Stennis, report!”

«The mountain, it’s… it’s gone. The whole rock face collapsed. Half the base is buried under rubble, including us. I think the only way out of this building now is through the roof and abseiling down.»

Chung smiled under his HUD.

“Commander? What the hell was that for? You can’t just bury the whole damn invasion force!”

“No. But there a little something in orbit that will finish this fight.”

“It… you… what?”

“Seismic sensors at our other sites on Mars will detect a rockfall of that magnitude. They’ll activate observer satellites and see what’s happening here. They will see the destruction.”

“And then?”

“They activate the terminus satellite in orbit and leave a smoking crater where this facility is.”

Herald stood there, lost for words. Chung raised one shaking hand and restored his XLR8 dose. He sighed as his mind focussed on the task and his emotions deadened once more. The deep pit at the bottom of his stomach eased.

“We deny access to our enemies. Standard Protocol, Chasseur.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of a series of stories developed for Cartel Tactical Centre, a fan-produced e-zine for Mutant Chronicles/Warzone.
> 
> If you like my work, I write on far more than just this topic. Please consider joining my mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/cjE8Rf  
> And/or my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Chrisreynoldsauthor
> 
> Cartel Tactical Centre can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/CTCMagazine/


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